Like most royal-obsessed gossip bloggers, I was interested in princesses, both real and fictional, when I was a child. I dreamt of having great princess costumes so I could play dress-up, and I specifically wanted to own every costume in that old Danny Kaye movie, The Court Jester. What I’m saying is that when I was a kid, I probably would have loved to have a real princess costume, complete with a corset and everything else. So it is with North West. I suspect that North West is into fashion and costumes too, judging solely from Kim Kardashian’s Instagrams and such. I also suspect that North has very strong opinions about what she wears, and she’s not afraid to shut down her parents if they try to dress her in something specific.

So should we blame Kim Kardashian for “dressing” her daughter in a “corset”? The photo above went viral this week when critics claimed that Kim is a terrible mother for dressing her 4-year-old daughter in a corset. If this was a real corset that truly cinched North’s waist, of course people should have a problem with that. But isn’t it clear from the photo that it’s not a real corset? Kim posted the video below, where she explains: “I would never put my daughter in a corset! It’s a dress I bought that is a cotton fabric that laces up & looks like a corset! Just decoration…This dress that I did not design, I actually bought, is not a corset it’s just fabric on the front. So, I think it’s really cute, I bought it from a designer and it’s just fabric people, it’s not a real corset.”

I would never put my daughter in a corset!It's a dress I bought that is a cotton fabric that laces up & looks like a corset! Just decoration pic.twitter.com/hZzZLs04sM

On one side, I understand why people are yelling, and that’s because little girls’ clothes are increasingly icky and inappropriate and a dress for a four-year-old should not include a faux-corset or a real corset, full stop. That being said… who’s to say that North didn’t pick this out herself? In her imagination, North might have thought this was a perfect princess dress and why not?

Agree. She’s in the second episode of the British Vogue docu-series on Netflix. The cinematographer captures her lips and butt in the scene. What photographs/photoshops well- and she and North are beautiful to begin with- does not look the same on film. She controls how she looks on KUWTK, but not in this show. Both body parts look way out of proportion and not in a good way.

I just…I..fark it’s the kartrashians.I’m not surprised but I would have thought that maaaaaayyyyyybe she’d keep her children away from the crazy, objectified, (ugh) sexualized lives she and her sisters adhere to. those poor kids.

Char, she claims to be a celebrity. She invites attention and when she gets it bitches about it. So if we, who are on a celebrity gossip site give our opinion, it is our business. If she doesn’t like it, she should stop posting like she promised she would after her robbery. Yeah we knew that would last.

Congrats to North for being introduced to the world of slut- shaming and victim-blaming at the age of four. That’s got to be some kind of record. Welcome to being born a girl, Nori! Where whether you’re an adult, a teen, or a toddler you’re always expected to dress to keep the male sex in line and prove you’re not a ‘sex object’.

We also get compliments and are flirted with more than men, get doors held open for us, get further in life based on looks instead of skills. When we do have skills, we get even further with looks combined, unlike men. We have a ton of advantages by being able to manipulate them. Dont worry about congratulating North, she’ll be too busy judging you for being poor once she’s old enough to realize that she’s rich. The moment she finds her moms video on PornHub is more mentally scarring anyway.

@Maria: You’re a Deplorable, correct? Because “Who cares about misogyny and violence when men open doors for us cuz we’re pretty. They’re society’s true victims!” is straight out of the female MRA right-wing playbook.
Maybe some day you’ll be in a place where your need for conservative/libertarian male validation isn’t so high and your respect for your own gender isn’t so low that you feel the need to enable/defend Gothard- approved beliefs about women and sexuality. I hope so- women like you are a far more violent and scarring influence on the culture than a sex tape could ever be. (Like no kid ever sees or hears their parent fucking and grows up fine).

The picture I saw (haven’t seen this one) they were out and about and North did not have a t-shirt underneath it. So it looked a bit different. Also, who puts their kid in a satin dress with a faux corset – only for attention. This is not a costume as Kim said she purchased it from a designer for North (or maybe to copy for her line). Heh, on being outraged. When I first read the headlines yesterday was expecting a tight cinched in waist, which it is not. Not even sure that is a faux corset, more of a vest that laces up.

I’m honestly baffled by the kind of outrage this gets… but I shouldn’t be. If Kim took a photo of herself eating Rice Crispies people would find something to complain about.

When I was North’s age and a bit older, my aunt would go to the Thrift shop and buy some used prom gowns. She’d shorten them a bunch, and then make my cousin and I crowns out of cardboard, tinfoil, and those gaudy flat-back fake gemstones. I’m sure most of those dresses were the corset back style prom gown – mainly because it’d be easier for a tiny kid to wear them.

jwoolman, those things in the old fashioned dresses are corsets. But the function of those with just lacing on top of the dress like this and the dresses you mentioned is just to keep your breasts still like a bra and give you are bit of a better posture. Corsets get far too bad rep, the wast majority used in human history were nothing more than bra plus maybe a bit of shapewear. The really thin shaping ones that people think of were fashion pieces than went in and out of fashion and mainly used by the nobility.

ITA. And no one wants to discuss that she sent ABC News Chyna’s nondisclosure agreement (primarily for KUWTK) in response to ABC News request for comment regarding Chyna and her attorney’s interview with ABC News. So because Chyna signed an NDA for your ‘reality’ show she is not allowed to PRESS CHARGES against your brother for his blatant ILLEGAL CRIMES?!

I am not a fan of the entire family or Rob & Chyna, but I hope he gets jail time. He has a pattern of this behavior that mommy and the klan enable by writing checks to make this go away. Jail time and a nice payday!

NDAs-just like attorney client privilege-TECHNICALLY are void once illegal activity occurs. (This is why most people get paid off even if they have signed an NDA.) If Chyna’s lawyer has any sense that’s what they’ll argue. Kim is just stalling.

I spent 3 weeks making a Belle dress for my niece as an Easter gift – I made an adjustable, fake corset type looking piece to go with one of Belle’s looks, it goes over her dress – I was not trying to make it look sexy at all, just “princessy”.

No, no, no. Just like the leopard print nightie looking thing with choker North has worn, it’s too grown up looking. It’s not comparable to princess costumes for God’s sake. Letting your child express themselves is one thing, dressing your 4 year old like a mini version of yourself, very sexualized, is something else. And these are the Kardashians, who think it’s perfectly normal and acceptable for a 17 year old to go under the knife to get boobs, butt…and whatever else Kylie has done. They don’t get the concept, let kids be kids.
And I doubt North is picking this crap, it’s her mother all the way.

Thank you, Mgsota and Maria. It’s a satin slip dress/nightie with a silly corset-looking verlay. It’s what her mother has dressed her in so many times before. If I’m out and about and see little girls in costume, I immediately know it’s a dress-up costume of Cinderella, Belle, Snow White etc. The costumes have puffy sleeves, shoulder covering, big skirts etc. – this does not, and doesn’t look anything like a costume or dress-up item.
I’m not even buying that she “bought it from a designer”, but actually suspect this is one of Kim’s or Kanye’s “designs”.
Having said all that, why would you dress your beautiful little girl in such an ugly bit of “fabric”?

She contradicts herself on a regular. She does something (like leaving white powder visible on a table) gets the attention she wanted, and tells us all we’re fools. Northwest is a cute kid, but she and her cousin Penelope will grow up to be the attention mongers their mothers are by example. Give it a rest Kim. It’s not cute, funny or relevant.

I think there are worse things that Kim could do as a mother. I mean, *real* corsets used to be the norm for all ages of girls and women. What North was wearing wasn’t even a real corset. I’m just not really fazed by this at all but I could see why people would be to an extent.

I don’t like the dress. Not just for the corset. But this is sadly what designers of children’s clothing do all too often. Make little girl cloths look like women clothing. Take a minute to look at what you see little girls wearing. SAD FACE.. this is actually not as bad as some. But people need to take a breath. Talk about the designers and tell to stop with this.

I think the slinky satin slip dress part is weirder for a kid’s dress than the corset, but she is wearing it with a t-shirt underneath and it doesn’t expose anything more than a normal sundress. My daughter wears lots of weird shit and loves leopard print, so I am not going to judge.

Still not getting the outrage. Without the t-shirt underneath, it still doesn’t leave much more uncovered than the typical small girl child tank top. Honestly, I see no issue with this. And anyone screaming “sexualization” is, to me, the one with the problem. I see a normal little girl wearing an ugly but not inappropriate outfit and nothing more.

@Itteh Bitteh – I get what you are saying, but the dress is still inappropriate for a 4 year old (even without the corset). – it’s more of a slip dress (to me). Should it have caused the outrage it did – no. People overreacted. Having a t-shirt under makes it less “sexy” – so was trying to explain why people may have been outraged by showing a picture without the t-shirt.

This disturbs me more as a general trend of sexualization of small girls. Corsets are meant to accentuate womanly traits like hips and breasts, and I feel uncomfortable thinking about putting a child in even a fake one. A few days ago, I saw a 7 year old girl in a shirt that said something like “You know you want a piece.” I just about threw up.

That “want a piece” t-shirt is vile I agree.
I don’t have problem with this dress though, I loved dressing up in my moms clothes when I was little….I clunked around the house in her heels & nightgowns. It was innocent.

Oh, I did the same! The makeup, the heels, all that. But I think that a little girl playing dress up with mom’s clothes at home is different from designers and fashion lines deliberately creating clothing that attempts to draw attention to a child’s sexuality and then marketing them to said children.

It looks rather ugly to me. Kim says she bought it for Nori, so it doesn’t sound as though the kid saw it and begged for it – this is something her mother deliberately purchased for her. But if Nori hated it, I doubt Kim could get it on her…

That slip dress looks nothing like a princess dress with a corset.Well anyway I guess I should be happy she didn’t design some pants with a “fake ” thing underneath.
It’s funny how she is addressing this stuff(corsett,cocaine) this week.#distractions

Wow, I will defend Kim so hard for this. This is such an unnecessary criticism of both Kim and North. Its clearly not a ‘corset’, and its not pulled tight in any way. There are parents who enter their kids in beauty pageants that IMO do a million times worse and yet, I would keep my mouth closed about that 80% of the time. Also there are traditional dirndls that have corset style tops and many many kids costumes that have them to. People need to stop sexualising kids with such ridiculous commentary.

Both she and North have the right to dress in whatever clothes they want, even if they are what some people deem to be ugly. The ‘internet’ needs to use some common sense and shhhh.

My niece’s Tangled costume is basically the same thing but purple. Also, I used to wear my cousin’s hand me down tube tops when I was little for dress up. I thought they were beautiful (it was the mid-to-late 90s and that 70s’ tie dye revival was BACK, BABY.) People are so judge-y. I get side-eyeing some pageant kid costumes (like that faux naked striptease on Dance Moms, that was sexualizing,) but I love this new trend of kids wearing mock high fashion clothes, I find it hysterical, and I think people who call children’s clothes ‘sexy’ are the people who should be side-eyed. Something is up when the first thing you think when a child is wearing dress-up clothes or dressing in mommy’s clothes or wearing one of those baby half-tops is ‘sex! that baby is dressed too sexy!’ Calm down, you have a hang-up.

Well i dont think thats a problem next to all her clothes look like lingerie for grown women. Its absolutely sick She pushes the same “style” kanye pushed on her. What they think is high fashion but is really just these outfits that look like she threw em together but it really took 12 people. I have a feeling North can pick the outfits to wear at home but in public she has a team to dress North for pap strolls.

At the end of the day Kim can dress her daughter any way she wants. The thing is that she always looks like she is wearing clothes that are either not comfortable or weather appropriate all in the name of fashion. I love seeing celebrities who just let their kids be kids.

The really disturbing thing about this story is the first picture of Kim and Nori. Kim is supposedly kissing Nori, but Kim is turned to the camera rather than the kid and the kid is likewise turned away from Kim to look at the camera. The normal position should be looking at each other, but this is what Kim did consistently when Nori was very young (after the kid became particularly photogenic). Kim looked at the camera instead of more naturally looking at the baby (and Nori typically had a bewildered “who the heck are you?” look on her face and was often turning away from Kim). Nori knows Kim much better now and they seem to get along more normally, but the return to the old habit of using Nori for a Kim photo op is chilling to me. The body language is disturbing.

That @jwoolman was an excellent example of body language observance. You would make one hell of a witness! You said things that are so obvious, but I never paid attention to. Kim is always focused upon herself. That’s all she knows, so obviously she looks straight to the camera and not her child. I remember how uncomfortable Northwest always looked with Kim when she was younger, I think Kim took some lessons from Kourtney, who appears to be a better mother to me. I doubt Kim spends as much time with her children as she would like us to believe, however, Northwest appears more than a photo op now, but I do notice Kourtney posts a lot of pics with Penelope and North. Not trying to be a hater, just sometimes mothers just don’t know how blessed they are. See ya!!!

About a year ago, there was a video or photo of Nori walking with Kim on the street in their usual not too connected way when Kourtney comes over. Both Kourtney and Nori greeted each other in a very normal way – Kourtney reached out to the kid with a happy and genuine smile (yes, Kourtney can smile!) and Nori was very excited and reaching toward her. I think that Nori does spend a lot of time with her cousin Penelope and Kourtney, thankfully. Nori doesn’t react to Kim that way, even when young enough to ordinarily still get excited at the sight of a parent. Nori was a typical bouncy kid with Kourtney, not so much with Kim. I think Nori relates more naturally with Kanye, possibly.

I don’t think Nori dislikes Kim or that Kim is evil, but it’s an odd disconnection between them. Kim does not naturally interact with any children, judging from what we saw with her sister’s children before Kim had her own kids. Kourtney complained once about Kim just using Mason for selfies with him to post online.

Kim seems to have some real bonding difficulties. I think she was seriously damaged by her childhood experiences with Demon Mother. The oldest, Kourtney, acts like she can barely stand to be in the same room with their mother. Kim depends on her mother but neither she nor Khloe act as though they are that fond of her. It’s a business relationship. The family is so obviously dysfunctional, I’m always baffled when people say they are a big loving family…. They are financially Interdependent but obviously have very mixed feelings (or not so mixed…) about their mom as well as relationship problems in general (including the relationships between siblings). My family is pretty dysfunctional in many ways, but the K Klan makes us look completely normal!

I don’t think North is into fashion and costumes. I think Kim is into it and so North has to be. North is getting big, I like her hair like that. In that first picture, Kim is staring into the camera with her sexy face. Ugh

Wow, I find it pretty judgmental and disgusting to put a faux corset in the icky category. Please tell me how that isn’t inappropriate and kind of shaming. It doesn’t alter her figure; it’s fake…and what about her choice? Kids need guidance and the ability to experiment.

I can’t believe I am going to defend this person but I don’t see the issue here. I don’t like the design because it is ugly to me but I see nothing sexual about it. It is the summer and it is hot so she is in a little sundress with an odd design element. It isn’t cinched.

There are children dressed in shocking outfits but this isn’t one of them. I am all for calling that out when it is outrageous but even though I find Kim distasteful, I can’t slam her about this.

I think at their basis satin spaghetti strap dresses and corsets, even faux ones are inappropriate clothing for 4 year old children.

I have a 5 year old niece who is fiercely independent about her clothing choices. I highly doubt North picked this out. If she did, I can only imagine what her other options were. Can someone get this kid a Moana or Frozen t shirt or something? Something normal?